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Author: Pam Dawling
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550925121
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 459
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Book Description
Growing for 100 - the complete year-round guide for the small-scale market grower. Across North America, an agricultural renaissance is unfolding. A growing number of market gardeners are emerging to feed our appetite for organic, regional produce. But most of the available resources on food production are aimed at the backyard or hobby gardener who wants to supplement their family's diet with a few homegrown fruits and vegetables. Targeted at serious growers in every climate zone, Sustainable Market Farming is a comprehensive manual for small-scale farmers raising organic crops sustainably on a few acres. Informed by the author's extensive experience growing a wide variety of fresh, organic vegetables and fruit to feed the approximately one hundred members of Twin Oaks Community in central Virginia, this practical guide provides: Detailed profiles of a full range of crops, addressing sowing, cultivation, rotation, succession, common pests and diseases, and harvest and storage Information about new, efficient techniques, season extension, and disease resistant varieties Farm-specific business skills to help ensure a successful, profitable enterprise Whether you are a beginning market grower or an established enterprise seeking to improve your skills, Sustainable Market Farming is an invaluable resource and a timely book for the maturing local agriculture movement.
Author: Pam Dawling
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550925121
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 459
Get Book Here
Book Description
Growing for 100 - the complete year-round guide for the small-scale market grower. Across North America, an agricultural renaissance is unfolding. A growing number of market gardeners are emerging to feed our appetite for organic, regional produce. But most of the available resources on food production are aimed at the backyard or hobby gardener who wants to supplement their family's diet with a few homegrown fruits and vegetables. Targeted at serious growers in every climate zone, Sustainable Market Farming is a comprehensive manual for small-scale farmers raising organic crops sustainably on a few acres. Informed by the author's extensive experience growing a wide variety of fresh, organic vegetables and fruit to feed the approximately one hundred members of Twin Oaks Community in central Virginia, this practical guide provides: Detailed profiles of a full range of crops, addressing sowing, cultivation, rotation, succession, common pests and diseases, and harvest and storage Information about new, efficient techniques, season extension, and disease resistant varieties Farm-specific business skills to help ensure a successful, profitable enterprise Whether you are a beginning market grower or an established enterprise seeking to improve your skills, Sustainable Market Farming is an invaluable resource and a timely book for the maturing local agriculture movement.
Author: Eliot Coleman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 160358014X
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 355
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Book Description
With more than 45,000 sold since 1989, The New Organic Grower has become a modern classic. In this newly revised and expanded edition, master grower Eliot Coleman continues to present the simplest and most sustainable ways of growing top-quality organic vegetables. Coleman updates practical information on marketing the harvest, on small-scale equipment, and on farming and gardening for the long-term health of the soil. The new book is thoroughly updated, and includes all-new chapters such as: Farm-Generated Fertility—how to meet your soil-fertility needs from the resources of your own land, even if manure is not available. The Moveable Feast—how to construct home-garden and commercial-scale greenhouses that can be easily moved to benefit plants and avoid insect and disease build-up. The Winter Garden—how to plant, harvest, and sell hardy salad crops all winter long from unheated or minimally heated greenhouses. Pests—how to find "plant-positive" rather than "pest-negative" solutions by growing healthy, naturally resistant plants. The Information Resource—how and where to learn what you need to know to grow delicious organic vegetables, no matter where you live. Written for the serious gardener or small market farmer, The New Organic Grower proves that, in terms of both efficiency and profitability, smaller can be better.
Author: Josh Volk
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 163586321X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 429
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Book Description
Josh Volk, author of the best-selling Compact Farms, offers small-scale farmers an in-depth guide to building customized equipment that will save time and money and introduce much-needed efficiencies to their operations. Volk begins with the basics, such as setting up a workshop and understanding design principles, mechanical principles, and materials properties, then presents plans for making 15 tools suited to small-farm tasks and processes. Each project includes an explanation of the tool’s purpose and use, as well as the time commitment, skill level, and equipment required to build it. Projects range from the super-simple (requiring a half-day to build) to the more complex, and include how-to photographs and illustrations with variations for customizing the finished implement. Along with instructions for building items such as simple seedling benches, a mini barrel washer, a DIY germination chamber, and a rolling pack table, Volk addresses systems design for farm efficiency, including how to design an effective drip irrigation system and how to set up spreadsheets for collecting important planning, planting, and market data. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.
Author: Jesse Frost
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1645020274
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 305
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Book Description
Principles and farm-tested practices for no-till market gardening--for healthier, more productive soil! From the host of the popular The No-Till Market Garden Podcast—heard around the world with nearly one million downloads! Discovering how to meet the soil’s needs is the key task for every market gardener. In this comprehensive guide, Farmer Jesse Frost shares all he has learned through experience and experimentation with no-till practices on his home farm in Kentucky and from interviews and visits with highly successful market gardeners in his role as host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. The Living Soil Handbook is centered around the three basic principles of no-till market gardening: Disturb the soil as little as possible Keep it covered as much as possible Keep it planted as much as possible. Farmer Jesse then guides readers in applying those principles to their own garden environment, with their own materials, to meet their own goals. Beginning with an exploration of the importance of photosynthesis to living soil, Jesse provides in-depth information on: Turning over beds Using compost and mulch Path management Incorporating biology, maintaining fertility Cover cropping Diversifying plantings through intercropping Production methods for seven major crops Throughout, the book emphasizes practical information on all the best tools and practices for growers who want to build their livelihood around maximizing the health of their soil. Farmer Jesse reminds growers that “as possible” is the mantra for protecting the living soil: disturb the soil as little as you possibly can in your context. He does not believe that growers should anguish over what does and does not qualify as “no-till.” If you are using a tool to promote soil life and biology, that’s the goal. Jesse’s goal with The Living Soil Handbook is to provide a comprehensive set of options, materials, and field-tested practices to inspire growers to design a soil-nurturing no-till system in their unique garden or farm ecosystem. "[A] practical, informative debut. . . .Gardeners interested in sustainable agriculture will find this a great place to start."—Publishers Weekly "Frost offers a comprehensive, science-based, sympathetic, wholly practical guide to soil building, that most critical factor in vegetable gardening for market growers and home gardeners alike. A gift to any vegetable plot that will keep on giving."—Booklist (starred review)
Author: Ben Hartman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603586997
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
At Clay Bottom Farm, author Ben Hartman and staff practice kaizen, or continuous improvement, cutting out more waste--of time, labor, space, money, and more--every year and aligning their organic production more tightly with customer demand. Applied alongside other lean principles originally developed by the Japanese auto industry, the end result has been increased profits and less work. In this field-guide companion to his award-winning first book, The Lean Farm, Hartman shows market vegetable growers in even more detail how Clay Bottom Farm implements lean thinking in every area of their work, including using kanbans, or replacement signals, to maximize land use; germination chambers to reduce defect waste; and right-sized machinery to save money and labor and increase efficiency. From finding land and assessing infrastructure needs to selling perfect produce at the farmers market, The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables digs deeper into specific, tested methods for waste-free farming that not only help farmers become more successful but make the work more enjoyable. These methods include: Using Japanese paper pot transplanters Building your own germinating chambers Leaning up your greenhouse Making and applying simple composts Using lean techniques for pest and weed control Creating Heijunka, or load-leveling calendars for efficient planning Farming is not static, and improvement requires constant change. The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables offers strategies for farmers to stay flexible and profitable even in the face of changing weather and markets. Much more than a simple exercise in cost-cutting, lean farming is about growing better, not cheaper, food--the food your customers want.
Author: Lynn Byczynski
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1933392657
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 467
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Book Description
From taking cuttings to winning new customers, this is the guide to growing beautiful organic flowers for enjoyment or profit Over 75,000 copies sold! The first edition of The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower's Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers helped thousands of small growers start successful cut-flower businesses. This expanded and thoroughly revised second edition has become equally influential for backyard novices and experienced growers alike. New sections in this edition include: Utilizing greenhouses Recommendations for flower cultivars Post-harvest handling Also updated is the acclaimed resource directory, complete with sources of seeds, plants and supplies, and expert information on organic production under the National Organic Program. For the beginner and backyard gardener, there is an extensive section on the basics, including Variety selection Soil preparation Planting, cultivation & harvest Floral design For the commercial grower, The Flower Farmer, 2nd Edition includes information about: Larger-scale production Advice about selling to florists, wholesalers, and supermarkets Understanding the wedding and farmers market customers This updated edition also includes revised profiles of successful growers, offering behind-the-scenes insight into the operation of some of the most cutting-edge flower farmers in the country. Because of the extensive revisions and enhanced content, The Flower Farmer, 2nd Edition is essential reading for those already in the flower business, as well as those who dream of growing flowers for enjoyment or profit.
Author: Lynn Byczynski
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603584935
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
An insider's guide to market gardening and farming for those in the business of growing and selling food, flowers, herbs, or plants. Market Farming Success identifies the key areas that usually trip up beginners—and shows how to avoid those obstacles. This book will help the aspiring or beginning farmer advance quickly and confidently through the inevitable learning curve of starting a new business. Written by the editor of Growing for Market, a respected trade journal for market farmers, Market Farming Success condenses decades of growing experience from every part of the United States and Canada. It focuses on the factors that are common to market gardeners everywhere and offers professional advice that includes: • How much you'll need to spend to start a market farming business; • How much you can expect to earn; • Which crops bring in the most money—and whether you should grow them; • The essential tools and equipment you will need; • The best places to sell your products; • How to keep records to maximize profits and minimize taxes; • Tricks of the trade that will make you more efficient in the greenhouse, field, and market. This new Chelsea Green edition of a 2006 classic is greatly updated and expanded, and includes full-color photos, charts, and graphs, plus many inspiring and instructive profiles of successful market-farming pioneers.
Author: Josh Volk
Publisher: Storey Publishing
ISBN: 1612125948
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
Small is beautiful, and these 15 real farm plans show that small-scale farmers can have big-time success. Compact Farms is an illustrated guide for anyone dreaming of starting, expanding, or perfecting a profitable farming enterprise on five acres or less. The farm plans explain how to harness an area’s water supply, orientation, and geography in order to maximize efficiency and productivity while minimizing effort. Profiles of well-known farmers such as Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier show that farming on a small scale in any region, in both urban and rural settings, can provide enough income to turn the endeavor from hobby to career. These real-life plans and down-and-dirty advice will equip you with everything you need to actually realize your farm dreams.
Author: Andrew Mefferd
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603586377
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook shares best practices for both large- and small-scale production of the eight most profitable crops - tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, leafy greens, lettuce, herbs, and microgreens. Every year, more growers are turning to protected culture to deal with unpredictable weather and to meet out-of-season demand for local food, but many end up spinning their wheels, wasting time and money on unprofitable crops grown in ways that don't make the most of their precious greenhouse space. This book levels the playing field with decision-making framework that goes beyond a list of simple dos and don'ts. With comprehensive chapters on temperature control and crop steering, pruning and trellising, grafting, and more, Andrew Meffer's book is full of techniques and strategies that can help farms stay profitable, satisfy customers, and become an integral part of relocalizing our food system. From seed to sale, this book is the indispensable resource for protected growing.--COVER.
Author: Ben Hartman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603585923
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258
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Book Description
A practical, systems-based approach for a more sustainable farming operation To many people today, using the words "factory" and "farm" in the same sentence is nothing short of sacrilege. In many cases, though, the same sound business practices apply whether you are producing cars or carrots. Author Ben Hartman and other young farmers are increasingly finding that incorporating the best new ideas from business into their farming can drastically cut their wastes and increase their profits, making their farms more environmentally and economically sustainable. By explaining the lean system for identifying and eliminating waste and introducing efficiency in every aspect of the farm operation, The Lean Farm makes the case that small-scale farming can be an attractive career option for young people who are interested in growing food for their community. Working smarter, not harder, also prevents the kind of burnout that start-up farmers often encounter in the face of long, hard, backbreaking labor. Lean principles grew out of the Japanese automotive industry, but they are now being followed on progressive farms around the world. Using examples from his own family's one-acre community-supported farm in Indiana, Hartman clearly instructs other small farmers in how to incorporate lean practices in each step of their production chain, from starting a farm and harvesting crops to training employees and selling goods. While the intended audience for this book is small-scale farmers who are part of the growing local food movement, Hartman's prescriptions for high-value, low-cost production apply to farms and businesses of almost any size or scale that hope to harness the power of lean in their production processes.
